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ATLANTA — In an era of company-issued GPS-enabled smartphones and tablets, employers now have
the technology to track workers’ every move from sunrise to bedtime.

Companies say tracking employees can be good for business. For example, it can help improve
safety — ensuring that truckers drive safely and get the rest required by law. Tracking can also
make companies more productive and competitive by monitoring performance and productivity.

Etta Epps, a UPS delivery driver for 10 years, said she is keenly aware of the shipping giant’s
surveillance of her actions through GPS and sensors in her truck.

“You’re so conscious every day of trying not to do this or not to do that because you know you’r
e being monitored,” Epps said.

But the capabilities also mean employers can also easily keep tabs on anyone from sales staff to
office workers whether at work or at home.

That raises questions for the 21st-century working world: How much data should companies collect
on where their employees are, and how should they use it? What about for an office employee or
manager who handles work-related business and calls on nights and weekends, or has flexible hours
and works from home? What should the parameters be, who sets the limits, and when and where is an
employee entitled to privacy?

There are few laws and court cases to help companies or workers understand the limits, leaving
some gray areas for protection of employees’ privacy.

Some companies say in their employee handbooks or policies that they have the right to conduct
certain types of employee monitoring. That makes it less likely that monitoring could be considered
an invasion or privacy.

“In general, there’s not a lot of privacy in the workplace in the United States,” said Marisa
Pagnattaro, a professor of legal studies at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of
Business.

Epps, the UPS driver, feels she has little privacy at work. She drives for a company that is
among the most avid users of technology to track vehicles and drivers.

UPS uses “telematics,” with more than 200 sensors on each vehicle that track not just location
and engine status, but also speed, idling time, hard braking, how many times drivers put the truck
in reverse and when they are wearing their seat belts.

Epps said she’s been “spoken to” about picking up her work handheld device while her truck is in
motion, or the truck’s bulkhead door popping open while she is driving.

“Sometimes you forget — you slip,” Epps said.

“They want to track everything we do. Nobody wants to be monitored. But it’s beyond our control.
There’s nothing we can do about it.”

The company finished outfitting its U.S. truck fleet in 2012 and says the data helps improve
safety, vehicle maintenance and employee training and contributes to lower costs by, for instance,
reducing idling time. UPS uses the data to encourage drivers to reduce the number of times they
back up, a common contributor to accidents.

“You don’t realize how often you’re doing it until it’s brought to your attention,” said Randy
Stashick, global vice president of engineering for UPS.

The use of telematics was discussed extensively in the most recent UPS contract talks, resulting
in language restricting the company from firing workers solely based on telematics data. Teamsters
General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said the language also helps to address a concern among
workers regarding the use of the data to intimidate workers.

“We also don’t want some supervisor using (that) as a threat, to say, ‘I’m going to watch you
today and if I see anything through GPS or otherwise, I can fire you,’ “ Hall said.